Makes sense, given the name.
Sylph Spirit (Wind Spirit of the Highest Rank)
HP: 2300/2300 / MP: 11237/13700 / STR: 9
VIT: 1200 / DEX: 9821 / AGI: 7835 / INT: 10291
Divine Blessing(s): Traitor to the Chief God
Titles: Fallen Spirit
So was she a Black Wind spirit, then? She may have lost her ability to control the wind, but in return, she’d gained the ability to control Black Wind. Her stats had barely changed, but her HP and VIT had been multiplied by a hundred. I could no longer joke about sneezing and blowing her away.
She’d also gotten a new Divine Blessing and title. Though I wasn’t sure why she was being labeled a traitor when it wasn’t like she had chosen to defy the chief god’s commands. Gods must have been extremely unforgiving.
“How much mana does Black Wind eat?” I asked.
“Basically none. You need to spend a little to start it up, but it’s a lot less than what you’d expend on forcibly stopping eavesdropping,” Sylph explained.
“What does it do?”
“It sounds like it could be poisonous,” Ariya said warily, stepping away from it.
Sylph tilted her head. “Poisonous? Not at all. It’s not even cloudy or heavy in any way. You can move it at will.”
“So what does it do?”
“It’s just a smoke screen.”
That’s disappointing. It has such a cool-sounding name, but the actual ability is pretty lame. “That’s a letdown,” I said.
“It’s useful against enemies but loses its value when you have allies nearby. It sounds very weak,” Ariya observed.
“Don’t say that! It’s not like I chose to have this power! I want to be able to control the wind too!” Sylph screamed at no one in particular, like she was venting. Man, I feel kinda bad.
I was partially responsible for her weakened state, but she was the one who’d come at me in the first place. It wasn’t my fault.
“Hey Sylph, can I control it too?”
“Y-Yeah, you can. You might need an incantation, but since I’m a spirit of the highest rank, and Conqueror gives us a stronger connection, you might even be able to do it without an incantation.”
I might as well test it out, then. I began generating Black Wind. It came out a lot easier than I’d expected. I tried expanding it, shrinking it, and changing it into all kinds of different shapes. It felt very similar to Puppet Master.
Apparently, as it turned out, Sylph was the one who was actually controlling its motions, and I was just feeding her orders with zero lag. Thanks to that, all the cognitive burden was put on Sylph, so none of my mental resources were consumed. Usually, using Puppet Master on nonsolid objects would take up a lot of mental resources, but not when it came to Black Wind. I could use Puppet Master to its maximum potential while Black Wind was being deployed simultaneously, since none of the burdens of controlling it fell upon me.
It was formless. Almost like a floating shadow... Hm? Wait. “Does that mean that...?”
“Huh?” exclaimed Sylph.
“Wh-What did you do?!” Ariya asked excitedly.
One of my knives emerged from the Black Wind. I’d been able to pull it out of my Shadow Storage that way.
“Black Wind has the same properties as my Shadow Storage.” I could use it just as I did Shadow Storage. Until now, I’d had to rely on shadows cast on the ground or walls, but now I could use an airborne shadow. This significantly increased the variety of actions I could take.
“Is it really useful for you at all, though?” Ariya asked.
“What do you mean? It’s extremely useful. It almost makes me want to apologize for making fun of Sylph.”
“I don’t know how I feel about this sudden change of opinion...”
“Let me show you just how useful it is.” I turned to Ariya, having thought of a new use for this. “We’re gonna save the job requests for later. Let’s gather some big rocks first.”
Ignoring the sounds of confusion both of them made, I used Detect to find rocks. I might have finally found a way to overcome my lack of firepower.
We’d spent the entire night collecting rocks, and it was now a new day. I remembered that my weapon should have been complete, so I decided to head back to town to take a look.
“Oh—so this is the part of town where you got it forged?” Sister Sensei remarked. Yes, she’s tagging along.
Unfortunately, Ariya had other requests to attend to, so she couldn’t come with me. This meant that I probably couldn’t lollygag like I’d been able to last time. I’d tried to insist that I’d go on my own, but Sister Sensei wouldn’t have it. She kept talking about how she was my teacher so she’d go with me. I didn’t know teachers were stalkers. That’s news to me.
“Oh, here it is.” I saw the same run-down shop that I’d visited the day before.
“Wow, you weren’t lying. I’ve been down this road a bunch of times, but I’ve never noticed this place before.” Sister Sensei tilted her head.
“I don’t blame you. It looks like a storage space.”
“Also, the stores around here feel intimidating.”
“You think so?”
None of the places here were especially dirty. I didn’t understand why she’d have a problem entering them. Then again, I guess people had different impressions of places. I nudged her into the shop she was so nervous about entering.
“Hey there,” I called out.
“Welcome, Sir Kiri. I’ve been expecting you.” The butler immediately greeted me as I entered. I was impressed that he could remember both my name and face after only meeting me once. Maybe it was because I was the only customer.